Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Jewish Reaction to the Livorno Earthquake of January 27, 1742

The Jewish Reaction to the Livorno Earthquake of January 27, 1742

by Ovadya Hoffman

On
January 27, 1742 (כב' שבט תק"ב) an earthquake shook Livorno, Italy to its core. All through
the preceding months rumbling shuddered throughout the city. Pasqual R. Pedini,
a recognized cleric at the time, elucidated in a letter beginning with the
incipient rumblings of Jan. 16 carrying on until 27th a vivid
depiction of the earthquake’s manifestation and impact (The Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London, London 1809; VIII p. 568, “An Account
of the Earthquakes Felt in Leghorn”). Today with minimal research anyone can
gain insight into the occurrence, both in secular historiography or
seismological analyses of its nature, so I won’t elaborate on it. Here my sole
intention is to produce some rare and, more importantly, non-reproduced Jewish
material (here
is a brief chronicle of Italian seismic history referenced in Jewish sources).

Of
note is the seferShivchei Todah
(Livorno 5504)[1] from R.
Malachi HaCohen, author of the famed Yad Malachi[2].
In his introduction, the author tells us that he composed the piyutim
(prayers and hymns) in the wake of the miracles that occurred during the
earthquake(s). The rabbis of the community instructed the people to fast and
recite different prayers, at the same time offering words of inspiration in the
different synagogues to get the public to focus on self introspection. In many
quarters, especially in the communal synagogues and schools, Torah study groups
of different levels of study were being held. Those tefilot were
established as part of an annual memorial service marking the miracles, and
included in the same sefer were other tefilot that were
instituted to recite in times of distress. This is essentially how the “Purim
Sheni” in Livorno was born[3].
Here
Eliezer Landshut gives an itemized list of the piyutim appearing in ST[4]. A more detailed report of the nature of the
earthquakes was depicted by the well known R. Rafael Meldola, father of R.
Avraham who headed the prominent publishing house, in his seferShever BaMitzarim (Livorno 5502) which
was printed later that year of the earthquake. He too, as the aforementioned
cleric did, begins his recount with the tremors that lead up to “the big bang”.
Some have noted that aside for ST, R. Malachi authored a second sefer
resembling the former’s framework entitled Kol Tefilah, although I wonder if
this is accurate. For one, I haven’t been able to locate it. But what’s more
puzzling is why would he have written the same tefilot and print them
under two different titles? And if they contain different tefilot, why
not include them in one sefer to avoid future confusion or possible
opposition between kehilot in respect to the age-old “Who has the right
mesorah” dilemma? Another sefer ascribed to R. Malachi is Arucha U’marpeh. In the relatively new
Maaseh Rokeach from R. Massoud C. Rokach (Jer. 5772; pirkei mavo ve’toldot
ha’mechaber §6) they claim that R. Malachi is “בעל הקונטרס
'ארוכה ומרפא' תפילות ובקשות שונות על העיר ליוורנו מקומו.”. One problem with this is that the introduction to this sefer
clearly says that the pieces are taken from ST. The other issue is that on his
tombstone, as is brought in the journal Ohr Olam (1;92),
it gives the year of his passing as 5532 whereas the Arucha U’marpeh was only
first printed in 5565, with no indication at all of this pamphlet being
produced from R. Malachi’s manuscripts.

Once
mentioning the Maaseh Rokeach (which was actually first printed the year of the
earthquake[5])
it is also worth noting that one of his great students, R. Avraham Khalfon of
Tripoli, also known by the acronym HaAvrech, copied in his sefer Maseh
Zadikkim (pg. 522) large sections of the Shever BaMitzarim making it far more
accessible than it was till then.

A
similar sefer comprised of different tefilot for epidemics etc.,
not related directly to the earthquake in Livorno, was printed a year later in
Venice entitled Matzil Nefashot. It
contains ‘Tefilat HaDerech of the Ramban’, ‘Tefilat Yachid from R. Elazar
HaKalir’ and other tefilot and bakashot. I wonder if the
inspiration for this collection came from the events that occurred over in
Livorno then followed by the printing of Shever BaMetzarim, or not.

Returning
to the Shivchei Todah, though most of the content is legible[6]and printed in the classic neat Italian lettering, sadly the rich and brilliant
introduction, printed in Rashi lettering, is not and so it is presented here
(excluding the piece where he thanks the publishers which is not all that me’inyana
d’yoma):

[1] Some give an additional printing date of
1743 but I’m not certain why. All editions that I’ve seen have the same year “ובחמלתו הוא”
printed on the cover page.

[2] With this opportunity, I’d like to clarify a
confusion I’ve seen by some, referring to the Yad Malachi as “R. Malachi
Montepescali”. If one looks at the author’s introduction to his Yad Malachi it
is obvious that he did not go by this surname, rather, it was his forefather
who did. Furthermore, I haven’t seen anyone identify the hometown of his
ancestor(s), no less even see his name neither translated nor transliterated in
English, and so the above given town is my own estimation.

[3] The Chida, in addressing a community who
wanted to recite Hallel with a berachah for a different miracle
(Chaim Sha’al 2;11), at the end of his responsa commends the rabbis of Livorno
for instructing their community to recite Hallel because of the
earthquake but to say it without a berachah. (Rav Y. Y. Weiss echoes
this ruling, though in a more overt strict tone, regarding the attempt some
made to recite Hallel commemorating the “miraculous” liberation from
WWII (Minchat Yitzchak 10;10). For a complete discussion in general on reciting
Hallel in such instances, see the famous responsa of R. Ovadia Yosef, zecher
zaddik le’vracha, in Yabia Omer (vol. 6 OC §41).

[4]Here
is an article by N. Sakalov in his HaAsif on the prolific Landshut.

[5] At the around the same
time and place, the Ohr HaChaim was being printed (Venice 5502), however
printing didn’t go as smooth as you can see from these two different cover
pages: one & two. While these as well as others
were being printed in Venice, we do find other reputable seforim that
were printed in Livorno that same year. More so, R. Malachi HaCohen aided
greatly in the production of the responsa of R. Shlomo Zemach (Rashbash) ben R.
Shimon (Rashbatz – two years later, R. Malachi wrote a haskamah upon the
printing of the Rashbatz’s Yavin Shmua) and the organizing, together with a
magnificent poetic biography, of the responsa of R. Yosef Irgas (Divrei Yosef).

[6] Two short notes on R. Malachi’s text: On pg.
2 of the seder ha’tefilot, it seems that in the piece of ‘Elokai
Neshama’ R. Malachi followed the more uncommon rite and added “ומושל בכל הבריות” not
like most Sefardim or even Italians, which he was himself. See also Yaffeh
LaLev (kunteres acharon, OC §46:1). Some indeed had the custom to add
it, see for example R. Sadia HaLevi in Neveh Zedek (hil. Berachos 1:5),
but what’s interesting is that most Italians did not. Another noticeable
difference is the word “נהודך” in ‘Baruch She’amar’.